The death of Dean Browne sounds like something from a movie script - at least by the police account. But, writes David Fisher, defence lawyers have a different theory about how the Auckland man's body came to be found in a Taranaki garage.
New Plymouth is not a place anyone goes by accident. It is not on the road to anywhere else. It is a place of deliberate intent.
The provincial city did not figure in Dean Browne's death on January 21last year at the age of 38: he lived in Auckland and died in Wellington, and his alleged killers lived and travelled between the two cities.
But New Plymouth is where Dean Browne's body was found, dumped in a garage. It is also where the three young men accused of his murder were arrested. And in this place, his final weeks will come alive again in the trial this month of those accused of his murder.
Mikhail Pandey-Johnson, 23, Karl Nuku, 19, and Rhys Fournier, 22, told the court they were not guilty when they appeared last week in the city's High Court. Arrayed in front of them, their lawyers looked competent and comfortable.
Susan Hughes, QC, wore a blue-ribboned brooch. Her male colleagues put their lawyer's gowns over crisp, cufflinked designer shirts. One had a large sparkling watch.
Their clients simply looked young. Pandey-Johnson, known as Casper, had a speckle of acne scars across cheeks, framed by a sharp jaw line and high cheekbones. His dreadlocks were tightly tied back. At one point in proceedings, he half-turned and waved at a woman in the public seating area. "Hi, mum," he mouthed.
Next to him was Nuku (nicknamed "Little C"), smooth-faced, still with a slight pudge of adolescent baby fat. He looked uncomfortable in his suit and lavender tie. He fidgeted throughout the day, shifting in his seat, sipping water.
And last in line sat "Tex" Fournier, bean-pole tall and hair shaved short. His suit hung on him like a tent. Fournier's pallid face remained expressionless, even when his lawyer later described him as "the equivalent of human wallpaper".
THE STORY of Browne's death began in Auckland. He lived in Takapuna; the young men known as the Killer Clown Fiends were based out of a house in Henderson.
They mixed through 2009 in a relationship the Crown claimed was based on drugs. Browne sank $5000 into the business. Profits from drug sales were meant to fund the repayment but the money never came. "By the end of 2009 the relationship started to turn sour," said Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich.
Browne moved to Wellington, where Pandey-Johnson arranged for him to move into a flat on Oriental Parade. He flatted with a woman now known as Crown Witness 29.
According to one of the accused, she killed him. But that is not the case the prosecution is advancing.
In the case Marinovich prepared for the court, Browne moved in with CW29, an old school friend of Pandey-Johnson whom he had met once. Occasionally, Pandey-Johnson, Nuku and Fournier would also stay.
Tension between Pandey-Johnson and Browne grew in the New Year. Browne wanted his money, said Marinovich. Nuku was upset over the way Browne had allegedly treated a female friend. Marinovich said Pandey-Johnson would often talk to CW29 about "killing Dean Browne with a blunt object".
Nuku and Fournier were sometimes present and threw in ideas. A plan formed to drug, then kidnap Browne.
Pandey-Johnson and Nuku went on a road trip to New Plymouth. On January 11 - 10 days before Browne died - they arrived at the Drake St home of Pandey-Johnson's cousin, Claire Emily Davies.
Evidence would be given, Marinovich said, of Nuku lying on the floor writing in an exercise book instructions dictated by Pandey-Johnson. Drugs were taken that night at Drake St - "what they term benzos", said Marinovich. "He gave tablets to Nuku with the specific purpose of crushing them up to put in Dean Browne's food."
Nuku left, said Marinovich, with the instruction: "Take the tablets and get them into Fatty's pasta."
The next morning Pandey-Johnson was heard on the phone. Had "Fatty" been fed his pasta? Marinovich said Pandey-Johnson was told "Fatty" was not going down.
"At this stage his stress levels are increasing," said Marinovich. Pandey-Johnson became concerned Browne would uncover the plot. He got his cousin to drive him back to Wellington.
They picked up CW29, who briefed Pandey-Johnson. She said the drugs had no effect. Pandey-Johnson declared he had had enough, said Marinovich. "He is going to smack Dean Browne over the head with a hammer."
"At this stage, the plan has moved from drugging Dean Browne to killing him."
DEAN BROWNE spent his last night alive on a fold-out sofa in CW29's bedroom. He was wearing boxer shorts and slept between blue satin sheets.
Marinovich described the Crown's version of the murder in this way.
He said CW29, Nuku and Fournier slept on a mattress on the floor in a neighbouring room.
As morning came, Fournier and Nuku went into CW29's bedroom. Marinovich: "With hammers in hand, Nuku and possibly Fournier began striking Dean Browne about the head. Nuku was heard saying at some stage words to the effect of 'F***ing with Casper'."
At least five blows connected with Dean Browne's skull, he said. "Each blow fractured a part of his skull."
At some stage, one of the accused used a choke hold on Browne. He was hog-tied, hands and feet behind his back with cable ties and black insulation tape. He was pulled from the sofa to the floor.
CW29 woke with the noise and went into the room. She injected Browne with morphine. A plastic bag was used to wrap his head "to contain the amount of blood".
CW29 left to collect Pandey-Johnson and returned to the Oriental Parade flat.
Browne's body was wrapped in the satin sheets on which he slept and then in a sleeping bag. The three Killer Clown Fiends carried the body downstairs to the tarpaulin-lined boot of the car.
Nuku and Pandey-Johnson drove north out of Wellington to Palmerston North and Fournier stayed behind to clean up, before catching a bus to Auckland.
In Palmerston North, the white Toyota Corolla was parked on the front lawn of the home of a friend of Pandey-Johnson. "At some stage they go out for dinner," said Marinovich. Nuku asked about getting a chainsaw.
They left at 10.30pm, drove to New Plymouth and arrived at Claire Davies' house early in the morning. After waking, Pandey-Johnson also asked about a chainsaw.
Browne's body was left in the garage when the men left to drive back to Wellington to fulfil a promise to give two women a ride to a concert in Rotorua. They then drove on to Auckland.
THE KILLER Clown Fiends met again in Henderson and stayed the night. The next day the three drove to New Plymouth, taking with them a 6-year-old relative of Pandey-Johnson.
When they turned into Drake St, they were confronted by police - Davies and her partner had called police after finding Browne's body in the garage.
Police pursued the car through New Plymouth streets but the white Toyota Corolla escaped by parking down a long driveway.
Fournier got out and left. Pandey-Johnson hid his backpack and a firearm behind the garage, and told the 78-year-old woman who lived there that they were being chased and needed help. She agreed they could travel in the back seat of her car. They drove through checkpoints and she dropped them on the city outskirts.
Armed police found the 6-year-old boy sitting alone in the white Corolla.
Fournier was arrested running across the grounds of New Plymouth Prison. His pockets were searched and three notes were found.
There was one by Pandey-Johnson: "Go to bitches and stay there. Leave with Matty, swipe all you can and drug him and secure him for delivery immediately." It went on.
There was the list dictated to Nuku which included "decent-sized hog ties". Fournier had his shopping list for cleaning the flat: "Craft knife, sandpaper, bleach, tape x 10."
Nuku was found by the shores of nearby Lake Mangamahoe a day later. Ordered to the ground, he was asked his name. He gave the name "Aaron Seymour West".
Pandey-Johnson turned up at a farmhouse that afternoon. He was wet and shivering and asked for a shower. The woman who answered the door recognised him from media broadcasts, invited him in and gave him a towel. As he went into the bathroom, the occupants of the house left and called the police.
The facts are for the jury to decide, Justice Mark Woolford said.
Pandey-Johnson's lawyer Paul Keegan said of Marinovich's case: "It is a Crown version marketed to you as the truth.
"[But the truth] is very straightforward. He didn't do it," he said of Pandey-Johnson.
Yes, he moved the body after the murder. "That Dean Browne was murdered is not in doubt. The question for you is who is the murderer. The case is quite simply a 'whodunnit'."
Nuku's lawyer Andrew Laurenson stood. "Mr Nuku's defence is quite simple. He did not participate in the murder of Dean Browne. He did not enter into a plot to murder Dean Browne."
Laurenson went on: Nuku said he was involved in moving the body but the person who killed Browne was CW29, Laurenson alleged. "You've heard from the Crown she administered morphine to the deceased." Then, he said, she administered the "coup de grace".
"What the Crown has said is not evidence. It is what the Crown asserts."
Fournier's lawyer, Hughes, said of her client: "He was present when the attack began and helped with the clean-up - but a killer he is not."
Consider who Browne kept company with, she said. Consider the credibility of CW29. "Why did she administer morphine on the morning Dean Browne died?
"Her evidence is self-serving and lacking in credibility. You will reject it."
IN COURT last week, Dean Browne was described by many names. Deano, Fatty and Matty. On occasion, he even introduced himself as "Matty the Rapist", the court was told. But he was also called "son" by the second witness. Stepfather Ron Bishop had farewelled Browne at his funeral.
"We will miss you," he told the service. "Walking through the door, calling out Mummy, Poppy, your long arms enveloping and hugging us, giving us big hugs and smoochie kisses and telling us how much you loved us."
This week, Bishop was called to speak of his stepson in court.
Bishop was already bristling under questioning when defence lawyer Paul Keegan asked about police interest in Browne. The dead man's stepfather bridled then - sounding like a lawyer himself - queried: "Relevance?"
The judge cleared the court. When it began again, no further questions were asked. Keegan sat down and Bishop left the dock.
This was day one of a four-week trial. Bishop retired to the back of the public gallery, sat down next to Dean's mum Faye and her other son Lee. This month, from the back of the court, they will hear about the final weeks of Dean Browne's life, 16 months after it ended.
